PORTLAND
FOODIE FINDS
FOODIE FINDS
A Northwest Tradition
By Andrea Slonecker
Each year, during the last weekend in July, the world of Pinot Noir is welcomed to the charming wine country community of McMinnville, Oregon, just outside of Portland. Sixty plus Pinot producers from Australia to Argentina, Burgundy to Napa, join our local winemakers and chefs at the International Pinot Noir Celebration (IPNC). This three-day rendezvous, held on the serene campus of Linfield College, explores the grape through seminars, tastings, vineyard tours, and, of course, dining.
While the wines are of international origin, meals are lavish in Northwest cuisine. More than 50 renowned Northwest chefs prepare elaborate feasts for thousands of attendees, featuring regional ingredients and cultural culinary traditions. No dining experience captures the essence of Northwest cuisine more than the salmon bake in which whole sides of wild Northwest salmon are fastened to tall alder wood stakes that lean in toward a 60-foot-long open fire. The fish slowly roast for about an hour, as has been done for centuries by Northwest Native American tribes.
This year’s salmon bake held particular significance because Chef Jason Stoller Smith, a long-time IPNC participating chef, ventured to Washington, D.C. about a month ago to recreate the salmon bake on the White House lawn for the annual congressional picnic (see Oregon chef treats Obama to backyard cookout). For the IPNC salmon bake, held last Saturday night, the Depoe Bay Chamber Of Commerce stoked the fire, as they’ve done for the past 20 years.
To accompany the salmon, chefs, including Stoller Smith and Farm to Fork chef Paul Bachand, prepared numerous salads and sides using local farmers’ produce, and the chef-butchers of Laurelhurst Market grilled 400 pounds of bone-in pork loin served with aioli and piperade.
Following dinner, the soiree continues with winemakers eagerly filling every empty glass with their current vintage, live music and dancing, and revelry into the night. The Salmon Bake at IPNC is truly one of the Pacific Northwest’s most quintessential meals.
It’s not too early to think about purchasing tickets to IPNC's 25th Anniversary Celebration in July 2011. Take advantage of a special early bird price by visiting ipnc.org.
Archived Blogs
While the wines are of international origin, meals are lavish in Northwest cuisine. More than 50 renowned Northwest chefs prepare elaborate feasts for thousands of attendees, featuring regional ingredients and cultural culinary traditions. No dining experience captures the essence of Northwest cuisine more than the salmon bake in which whole sides of wild Northwest salmon are fastened to tall alder wood stakes that lean in toward a 60-foot-long open fire. The fish slowly roast for about an hour, as has been done for centuries by Northwest Native American tribes.
This year’s salmon bake held particular significance because Chef Jason Stoller Smith, a long-time IPNC participating chef, ventured to Washington, D.C. about a month ago to recreate the salmon bake on the White House lawn for the annual congressional picnic (see Oregon chef treats Obama to backyard cookout). For the IPNC salmon bake, held last Saturday night, the Depoe Bay Chamber Of Commerce stoked the fire, as they’ve done for the past 20 years.
To accompany the salmon, chefs, including Stoller Smith and Farm to Fork chef Paul Bachand, prepared numerous salads and sides using local farmers’ produce, and the chef-butchers of Laurelhurst Market grilled 400 pounds of bone-in pork loin served with aioli and piperade.
Following dinner, the soiree continues with winemakers eagerly filling every empty glass with their current vintage, live music and dancing, and revelry into the night. The Salmon Bake at IPNC is truly one of the Pacific Northwest’s most quintessential meals.
It’s not too early to think about purchasing tickets to IPNC's 25th Anniversary Celebration in July 2011. Take advantage of a special early bird price by visiting ipnc.org.
Archived Blogs
What's on My Plate Today
Dining Around Portland and Seattle
Where should we eat? What’s new? What’s on your list? Where are your favorite spots? Friends in town, friends coming to town, and out-of-towners I barely know all query me. It’s fun to offer up suggestions to “new” friends finding me through my website and guessing that – being so involved in food and living in Portland – I might have some good suggestions and opinions. I do.
As a cookbook author, it’s challenging to maintain a balance between eating in and dining out. Most weeks, I’m writing and developing recipes. That means I am generating a lot food, and that food needs to be consumed. My husband’s colleagues think he has the best wife possible! She cooks new things all the time, and dinner is at hand at the end of a long day. (Of course, sometimes, so is a sink full of dishes – thank you, darling!) Why I bring this up is because I also like (and need) to eat out and try different cuisines, check out new chefs, and get away from the kitchen. But often, the refrigerator is full and it makes sense to eat at home. So we seek balance.
For me, dining around Portland means visiting my favorite haunts and patronizing my favorite businesses—Paley’s, Beaker&Flask, Biwa, Jade, Nostrana, Toro Bravo, Castagna, and Carafe, to name a few. And then, there are those I keep on my mental gotta-get-back-to list, such as, Metrovino, Clyde Common, Bamboo Sushi, Country Cat, Andina, Beast, Park Kitchen, Apizza Scholls, Nuestra Cucina, Pok Pok, Ken’s Artisan Pizza, DOC, Simpatica, Olympic Provisions, and Gruner. And then there are those I still need to try but the lines are so long I have to strategically plan it. I’m thinking of Tasty & Sons, Foster Burger, and Lucky Strike’s new location on Hawthorne. Plan-in-advance, reservations-only places take more mental capacity than I am sometimes capable of. (I do this for vacations, but I am lazier about restaurants in my own city.)
But when a dining opportunity presents itself, I’m all over it. We had planned a day trip to Seattle on Saturday, scouting for a Japanese tansu (chest) from a favorite Asian antique dealer. I realized we could have an early dinner in Seattle and still drive back in mostly daylight. Where to go? I decided to try Cascina Spinasse. The young chef, Jason Stratton, had just been named a Food&Wine Best New Chef for 2010. I made a 5:15 pm reservation to allow for our drive back.
Without a doubt, the restaurant is a knockout. We shared a respectable antipasti—Insalata di cicoria di campo—local chicories with marinated rabbit, parmigiano-reggiano and balsamico. Greg was studying the wine list, which is completely Piedmont focused, and settled on a 2004 Barbera “Conca” from Poderi Aldo Conterno. We ordered the night’s special pasta, described as a rough-cut egg pasta with a pork ragù. We shared the antipasti and pasta course and ordered two entrees.
I tried to share equally with the pasta course but, well, let’s just say I couldn’t resist. My fork went back for a tad more of the pasta, and then the sauce, and then the final morsel of the pork. Jason, the chef, had me at primi and then came secondi. Pulcino alla acresta (braised young chicken with verjus, herbs, gooseberries and house-cured guanciale) was brilliant with sweet young chickens in a light rounded sauce, punctuated with tart pinkish gooseberries and sage. Thank goodness the entrees were placed in the center with serving utensils because equally amazing was Polpetti di coniglio (rabbit meatballs wrapped in caul fat, with roasted baby turnips and pickled horseradish condiment). There were three meatballs and being full had nothing to do with the desire to consume a half of that third meatball—every last savory bite.
For dessert, (yes, after that star lineup of courses, we had to try a dessert.) we shared Torta di mandorle (toasted almond cake with grappa macerated tayberries and strawberry sorbetto). Northwest berries delivered Italian-style as an amazing summertime dessert. The tartness of the berries offset the deeply caramelized edges of the almond cake. Just needing a bite of something sweet to finish the meal, the portion size was perfect for two. And a nice grappa to finish.
I’m not a food blogger in the sense of taking pictures of every meal I consume, but I realized I needed pictures. I knew I wanted to share this meal with you. So, these are photos from Greg’s phone. If I knew this meal was going to be so memorable, I would have brought my digital camera. Next time…
Just in case you are heading to Seattle
Cascina Spinasse
1531 14th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98122
206.251.7673
SPINASSE.COM
Diane
View archived blogs
Where should we eat? What’s new? What’s on your list? Where are your favorite spots? Friends in town, friends coming to town, and out-of-towners I barely know all query me. It’s fun to offer up suggestions to “new” friends finding me through my website and guessing that – being so involved in food and living in Portland – I might have some good suggestions and opinions. I do.
As a cookbook author, it’s challenging to maintain a balance between eating in and dining out. Most weeks, I’m writing and developing recipes. That means I am generating a lot food, and that food needs to be consumed. My husband’s colleagues think he has the best wife possible! She cooks new things all the time, and dinner is at hand at the end of a long day. (Of course, sometimes, so is a sink full of dishes – thank you, darling!) Why I bring this up is because I also like (and need) to eat out and try different cuisines, check out new chefs, and get away from the kitchen. But often, the refrigerator is full and it makes sense to eat at home. So we seek balance.
For me, dining around Portland means visiting my favorite haunts and patronizing my favorite businesses—Paley’s, Beaker&Flask, Biwa, Jade, Nostrana, Toro Bravo, Castagna, and Carafe, to name a few. And then, there are those I keep on my mental gotta-get-back-to list, such as, Metrovino, Clyde Common, Bamboo Sushi, Country Cat, Andina, Beast, Park Kitchen, Apizza Scholls, Nuestra Cucina, Pok Pok, Ken’s Artisan Pizza, DOC, Simpatica, Olympic Provisions, and Gruner. And then there are those I still need to try but the lines are so long I have to strategically plan it. I’m thinking of Tasty & Sons, Foster Burger, and Lucky Strike’s new location on Hawthorne. Plan-in-advance, reservations-only places take more mental capacity than I am sometimes capable of. (I do this for vacations, but I am lazier about restaurants in my own city.)
But when a dining opportunity presents itself, I’m all over it. We had planned a day trip to Seattle on Saturday, scouting for a Japanese tansu (chest) from a favorite Asian antique dealer. I realized we could have an early dinner in Seattle and still drive back in mostly daylight. Where to go? I decided to try Cascina Spinasse. The young chef, Jason Stratton, had just been named a Food&Wine Best New Chef for 2010. I made a 5:15 pm reservation to allow for our drive back.
Without a doubt, the restaurant is a knockout. We shared a respectable antipasti—Insalata di cicoria di campo—local chicories with marinated rabbit, parmigiano-reggiano and balsamico. Greg was studying the wine list, which is completely Piedmont focused, and settled on a 2004 Barbera “Conca” from Poderi Aldo Conterno. We ordered the night’s special pasta, described as a rough-cut egg pasta with a pork ragù. We shared the antipasti and pasta course and ordered two entrees.
I tried to share equally with the pasta course but, well, let’s just say I couldn’t resist. My fork went back for a tad more of the pasta, and then the sauce, and then the final morsel of the pork. Jason, the chef, had me at primi and then came secondi. Pulcino alla acresta (braised young chicken with verjus, herbs, gooseberries and house-cured guanciale) was brilliant with sweet young chickens in a light rounded sauce, punctuated with tart pinkish gooseberries and sage. Thank goodness the entrees were placed in the center with serving utensils because equally amazing was Polpetti di coniglio (rabbit meatballs wrapped in caul fat, with roasted baby turnips and pickled horseradish condiment). There were three meatballs and being full had nothing to do with the desire to consume a half of that third meatball—every last savory bite.
For dessert, (yes, after that star lineup of courses, we had to try a dessert.) we shared Torta di mandorle (toasted almond cake with grappa macerated tayberries and strawberry sorbetto). Northwest berries delivered Italian-style as an amazing summertime dessert. The tartness of the berries offset the deeply caramelized edges of the almond cake. Just needing a bite of something sweet to finish the meal, the portion size was perfect for two. And a nice grappa to finish.
I’m not a food blogger in the sense of taking pictures of every meal I consume, but I realized I needed pictures. I knew I wanted to share this meal with you. So, these are photos from Greg’s phone. If I knew this meal was going to be so memorable, I would have brought my digital camera. Next time…
Just in case you are heading to Seattle
Cascina Spinasse
1531 14th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98122
206.251.7673
SPINASSE.COM
Diane
View archived blogs
Making LimoncelloMy featured recipe is all about starting Christmas Gifts Now! Just imagine if you were ready for holiday gift giving before Halloween!!! It takes 80 days for limoncello to steep and be ready for bottling. You can plan ahead, follow these step-by-step easy directions and have amazing homemade gifts ready for your "adult" friends and family.
View recipe
Grill Every Day
Grill Every Day is a cookbook for the harried weeknight cook who is trying to put a terrific meal on the table within a short amount of time and without a lot of clean up. Turn to the grill! This cookbook is filled with easy-to-prepare, big-flavored recipes for grilling meats, fish, poultry, vegetarian entrees, vegetables, and even desserts. Let these recipes light a fire under your weeknight cooking routine, sparking the taste buds with sizzling new ideas!
On Saturday, May 22, 2010 from 9am–3pm, Diane Morgan will present a recipe writing intensive workshop to be held at The Art Institute Culinary School in Portland.
This unique course is designed to enlighten and demystify the art and technical side of recipe writing. Topics to be covered include basic rules of recipe writing, formatting techniques, concisely defining an ingredient list, tailoring a recipe according to a publication’s specifications, and designing recipes that include sub-recipes and multiple steps. In addition, the class will cover writing creative headnotes and recipe titles.
This course is for writers, chefs, culinary students, and hobbyists wanting to refine and strengthen their recipe writing skills. Novice recipe writers will also benefit greatly from this intensive course.
Click here for more information and to register.
This unique course is designed to enlighten and demystify the art and technical side of recipe writing. Topics to be covered include basic rules of recipe writing, formatting techniques, concisely defining an ingredient list, tailoring a recipe according to a publication’s specifications, and designing recipes that include sub-recipes and multiple steps. In addition, the class will cover writing creative headnotes and recipe titles.
This course is for writers, chefs, culinary students, and hobbyists wanting to refine and strengthen their recipe writing skills. Novice recipe writers will also benefit greatly from this intensive course.
Click here for more information and to register.
The Art of Food Writing is a six-week course designed to take your thoughts, musings, insights, and experiences with food and translate them into marketable works for print. This course is for cooks, food aficionados, students, journalists and authors who would like to learn more about writing on food. Highlights of the course include a detailed examination of how to write a recipe, the process of creating a great story or book idea and the research skills involved in developing that idea, writing book proposals, pitching story ideas to newspapers and magazines, finding an agent, blogging, writing for the web, beginning a website, and other industry tips.
Click here for more information.
Diane has just completed her Winter 2010 The Art of Food Writing course. Please E-mail Diane if you are interested in her upcoming Workshop or future Food Writing Courses and be on the “first to know” list for these courses and workshops.
Click here for more information.
Diane has just completed her Winter 2010 The Art of Food Writing course. Please E-mail Diane if you are interested in her upcoming Workshop or future Food Writing Courses and be on the “first to know” list for these courses and workshops.
